Monday, January 06, 2014

January 5, 2013-Sailing to the Darien

The afternoon sea breeze filled as expected and at 13:00 Wings weighed anchor and slipped away to the south-west under plain sail, bound for the Sapzurro, in the Darien Province, on the Isthmus of Panama.

The wind, which they thought would clock around to the NW and lift them clear of land, held stubbornly to the SW, and, to add insult to injury, even backed a little and they had to beat out of the Gulf Morrosquillo to reach open water.

Nor did the wind clock during the afternoon or even as night fell but there was nothing to be done for it and they just hardened up and worked the vessel as close to the wind as they could as they sailed down the Colombian coast, sometimes skirting just off shore of the shallows and sometimes sailing inside of islands. The lights of the coast seemed close.

By morning however, the expected shift finally came and Wings was lifted. The sheets could be eased. The speeds went up. The sailing became easier.

And when, at mid-morning, the mountains of the Darien hove into view through the mist, their spirits were also lifted as they anticipated the landfall in a new place.

Hi Fred/Judy - on our way to see the Robert Redford movie (All Is Lost) and thought of our dear cruising friends! San Blas! We loved it there. What an excellent blog you are keeping. Will send you an update on the Wiggins crew via email. Best to you both.Mick & Christine

About Me

Two people: Fred & Judy , drawn to each other and yet somehow drawn also to the sea, and both intrigued by the idea of living aboard.
I saw her, blond and asymmetrical, beautiful, boarding another’s boat and I followed her and wooed her, or she wooed me. That was 1985 and we fell in love and we thought that to buy a boat and make a life together on the water was only natural.
So we did.
Fate.
The boat was WINGS.
For the next ten years we lived on Wings in Seattle, had jobs in the city, sailed every chance we got, and 40-50 times a year, went racing. It was great.
Then we left Seattle and began our cruising life. We voyaged across the world, across the seven seas, to faraway places, and made them our own.
Wings was our home, and is still, and we lived wherever the sea met the land and people welcomed us, as they did everywhere.
For thirty years we’ve lived this life, and more to come, we hope.
Join us now, and sail the seas.
Fred Roswold & Judy Jensen, SV Wings, Caribbean